1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drying device, and more particularly, to a new type of a drying device which enables air to circulate continuously therein for drying the laundry and which can gain a suitable output of power for an operation of each cycle by varying a structure of a drying heater.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a dryer is an electric home appliance which can dry cloth items, cloths and beddings (hereinafter, ‘the laundry’). The dryer has the laundry therein and dries the laundry by supplying hot air to the washed laundry continuously.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional tumble dryer out of related art dryers.
The related art tumble dryer includes a body 10, a drying drum 20, a door 40, a motor 50, a drying heater 60 and a fan 70.
The body 10 defines an exterior of the tumble dyer, and the drying drum 20 is rotatably mounted inside of the body 10.
Also, an opening 11 is formed in front of the body 10, and the door 40 is coupled for opening/closing the opening 11.
The motor 50 is secured to an inner downside of the body 10 for creating a driving force to rotate the drying. drum 20 and the fan 70.
The drying heater 60 is mounted on an inner portion of a hot air supply channel 91 for heating air flowing within the hot air supply channel 91. The hot air supply channel 91 guides a hot air passage supplied into the drying drum 20.
The fan 70 discharges dry air flowing inside of the drying drum 10 to an outside, and is provided in communication with a hot air discharge channel 92.
Thus, once the fan 70 is put into operation, external air is guided by the hot air supply channel 91 and heated by passing through the drying heater 60 to be drawn into the drying drum 10.
Thereby, the damp laundry introduced into the drying drum 10 is gradually getting dried by the heated external air.
The air having dried the laundry by being circulated within the drying drum 10 is guided by the hot air supplying channel 92 to be discharged outside.
Once drying is completed by the repeated performance of the above process, the fane 70 and the drying heater 60 are stopped to finish a drying cycle.
However, the related art tumble dryer has a problem that a tangled portion of the laundry is not dried smoothly, because the drying cycle is performed in a state of the laundry being introduced together at one time.
There is another problem that it is impossible to keep the laundry for a long time period in the related art tumble dryer.
Thus, recently demands have been increasing accordingly for a new type of a combination dryer having a drying capacity thereof enlarged as well as capable of keeping the laundry for a long time. There are various kinds of combination dryers provided with tumble dryers having auxiliary cabinet dryers provided therewith, for example, US Laid-open Patent Application No. 2004-0194339 A1 or US Laid-open Patent Application No. 2004-0154194 A1.
The above combination dryer has a cabinet dryer provided on a top of a conventional dryer having a rotatory drum. The cabinet dryer has space for the laundry and receives hot air used to dry or keep the laundry for a long time.
The cabinet dryer is employed to dry the laundry or keep the laundry therein for a long time after receiving hot air from the tumble dryer.
However, the combination dryer described above may cause a problem that the combination dryer cannot be supplied for being built-in, because the air having dried the laundry is discharged outside of the combination dryer.
That is, since space for being built-in should be formed large enough to maintain a sufficient distance with a wall for discharging air smoothly, a design of an exterior may deteriorate.
Furthermore, since the air discharged from the combination dryer is a high-temperature humid air, internal environment may not be the high temperature humid one which a user does not want.
Still further, since the related art combination dryer has only one drying heater for generating hot air, and the output of a drying heater needed for operating a tumble dryer and the output needed for operating a cabinet dryer are the same, there may be a problem of unnecessary electric consumption.